Suppress Error Messages When Booting - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

This hack will suppress all pop-ups informing you that a device is not working or is causing an error. You might want to temporarily apply this edit if you know that a certain device isn’t working, and you don’t want to keep getting reminded.

Navigate to:

HLM\ SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\ Control\ Windows

Change the value of the DWORD called NoPopupsOnBoot to 1. This will suppress all error messages, but remember, you will not be warned even if the error is serious. If the pop-up is too annoying and you can’t do anything about it, go ahead and suppress the error messages, but ensure that you periodically review the event logs to see that there’s nothing going seriously wrong with your system.

If you do wish to be warned of critical errors, you can use another setting called “Error Mode”. Set the DWORD Value to 0 for no error suppression, 1 for suppressing system errors, and 2 for suppressing all errors.

Change The Priority Of The Print Spooler - Hardware Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

The “priority” of a task is the degree of urgency that the task presents to the processor—requests from a task with higher priority are served earlier. Now, the default setting for the Print Spooler is to run at normal priority. Now if you mostly use your computer for printing, use this hack to change the priority class of the Print Spooler.

Navigate to:
HLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print

Create a new DWORD value called SpoolerPriority and set it according to what value you want (or if it exists, just set the value):
0xFFFFFFFF for Idle Priority
0 for Normal Priority
1 for High Priority

Remove Pinned Programs - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

Don’t like the pinned program list in the Start Menu? We do—so we don’t need to scroll—but some people don’t like it. Use this Registry edit to get rid of it.

Navigate to:

HCU\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\ Explorer

And to:

HLM\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\ Explorer

Change the DWORD value of NoStartMenuPinnedList to 1 to remove the pinned programs list. The default is 0. The hange should happen immediately, but as usual, if it doesn’t, just restart!

This will also remove the Internet and E-mail Programs. Also, it only applies to the XP Start Menu and not the Classic Start Menu.

Disable The Frequent Programs List - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

Use this hack if you don’t want the list of frequently used programs in the Start Menu to show up.

Navigate to:

HCU\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\ Explorer

And to:

HLM\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\ Explorer

Change the DWORD value of NoStartMenuMFUprogramsList to 1 to disable the display of the frequent programs list. If that DWORD doesn’t exist, create it.

This will only work with the XP Start Menu, not the Classic Start Menu.

Take Control Of Your Modem - Hardware Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

You’ve probably experienced this if you’re on dial-up: if remote connections are enabled, your computer initiates an Internet connection— at startup or when an application demands it—and you find your modem dialling all on its own. Here’s how to disable that behaviour. Navigate to:

HLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Ole

Create a new String value (or modify the existing value) called EnableRemoteConnect. Set it to N to disable your modem stealing control. Of course, you can always set it to Y if bad things happen after you do this. A restart is required for the change to take effect.

Don’t Show Common Program Groups - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

If you don’t want to see the “common groups” in the Start Menu, use this hack to disable it from getting displayed.

Navigate to:

HCU\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\ Explorer

And to:

HLM\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\ Explorer

The first value above, as you know by now, is user-specific, and the second is the system-wide setting.

Change the DWORD Value of NoCommonGroups to 0 to disable the display, and to 1 to re-enable it.

Start Menu: Scrolling Or Columns? - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

By default, Start Menu items are cascaded as columns across the screen. This can get annoying and inconvenient when your Start Menu list becomes large. This hack will enable you to switch the default Start Menu display mode to a scrolling menu.

Navigate to:
HCU\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer\ Advanced

And to:
HLM\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer\ Advanced

To enable Start Menu scrolling, change the value of StartMenuScrollPrograms to “Yes”. Set the value to “No” for the default multiple-column display. Reboot or log out and back in for the change to take effect.

Make Your NIC Do Some Work - Hardware Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

This applies only if your network adapter has an onboard processor: you can find out from the spec sheet whether or not it does. If it does, it has been designed to offload network processing computations from the CPU. This hack can reduce system slowdown during high-speed data transfers. Navigate to:

HLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters

Create a new DWORD value called DisableTaskOffload and set it to 0 to enable the NIC’s processor. Of course, if the key exists and is set to 1, reset it to 0. A restart is required for the change to take effect.

Juggle The Keys Around - Hardware Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

How often do you use the Windows key that’s found on almost all keyboards today? Probably not too often, except when a program setup takes up the entire screen and you need to access your icons. If you press it accidentally, you need to press [Esc], which is a minor irritant. There’s a registry hack to disable the Windows key should you wish to do so.

Navigate to:
HLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout

Here, create a new Binary value (or modify the existing value) called “Scancode Map” and set it to the following. Don’t bother with what appears in the editing box—just type in the value below exactly as it is (you don’t need to use the spacebar):

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 00 00 5B E0
00 00 5C E0 00 00 00 00

Logging out and logging back in should bring the change into effect, but you might need to restart. In fact, you can change any key to any other! Essentially, each key has a code, and you need to specify how many keys you are remapping. Apart from lots of zeroes, you specify the code of the key you’re going to press, and you specify the code of the key you want it to become. For example:

The left [Alt] key is 38 00.
[Backspace] is 0E 00.

So the remapping of left [Alt] to [Backspace] would be 0e 00 38 00. Note the order. Now, there are eight pairs of zeroes at the beginning of the Scancode map, and four ending pairs of zeroes. Since we’re changing only one key, we need to use 02 00 00 00. (Two keys would be
03 00 00 00). After that comes the mapping, then the ending zeroes. So, to remap left [Alt] to [Backspace] would be

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 0E 00 38 00 00 00 00 00

Just visit www.usnetizen.com/fix_capslock.html for a complete list of Scancode maps. Also remember that the value to use to disable
a key is, of course, 00 00. Here are a few useful values.

[Caps Lock]: 3A 00
Left [Ctrl]: 1D 00
[Tab]: 0F 00
[Enter]: 1C E0
Left [Shift]: 2A 00
Right [Shift]: 36 00

Disabling [Caps Lock] would therefore be eight leading pairs of zeroes, followed by 02 00 00 00, followed by 00 00 (for the disabling), followed by 3A 00 (for [Caps Lock]), followed by four pairs of zeroes. Try changing someone’s [Enter] key to [Backspace]!

Display Attributes - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

This is something *nix folks have had all the time—the Attributes of files and folders. In Windows, if you want to see the file and folder attributes in Detailed View in Explorer, you’ll need to use this hack.

Navigate to:

HCU\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer\ Advanced

Set the DWORD Value called ShowAttribCol to 1 to enable a spanking new “Attributes” column.

Control Capitalisation In File And Folders Names - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

With this hack, if you enter a file or folder name in upper case, Windows will change the entry to upper and lower case to make it more visually appealing.

Navigate to:

HCU\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer\ Advanced

Modify the DWORD Value Don’tPrettyPath to 0, and Windows will adjust the capitalisation. Set it to 1 and Windows will accept the capitalisation as entered. A restart might be required for the change to take effect.

Add A Command-Prompt Right-Click To Every Folder - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

If you use the command line window a lot, this hack will let you open a command prompt at the selected directory.

Navigate to:

HCR\Directory\shell

Create a new sub-key called Command under the main key (that is, the new key will be HCR\Directory\shell\Command). Change the value of “(Default)” within that key to the text you’d like on the right-click menu, for example, “Open A Prompt Here!”

Create another, new sub-key under the key created above, again called “command” (so this key will be HCR\Directory\shell\Command\command). Change the value of “(Default)” here to “cmd.exe /k cd %1”, without the quotes. Now right-click on a folder, and voila!

Change Registered Owner And Organisation Name - Miscellaneous Windows XP Registry Hack

If you’ve accepted the default owner name (computer name) in office, say, or if you’ve entered the wrong information during installation—or if you just want to change it to something funny!— you can use this hack to change the details.

Navigate to:
HLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\
CurrentVersion

Modify the String Values RegisteredOwner and RegisteredOrganization as required. Put in the new values without the quotes.

Convert a FireWire Device To A Dynamic Disk Drive - Hardware Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

A dynamic disk is a physical disk that provides features that “basic” disks do not, such as support for volumes spanning multiple disks. Such a disk contains dynamic volumes—such as simple volumes, spanned volumes, striped volumes, mirrored volumes, and RAID-5 volumes. Note that dynamic disks are not supported on notebooks or in XP Home Edition. This hack is for converting a FireWire disk to a dynamic disk.

Navigate to:
HLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dmadmin\
Parameters

Create a new DWORD value here called EnableDynamicConversionFor1394 if it doesn’t exist, or if it does, modify the existing value. 0 is the default value; set it to 1 to enable the conversion to a dynamic disk. You may need to restart or log out for the change to take effect. Do not convert FireWire disk drives to dynamic disk drives if they will be moved to other hosts.

Implement A User-Based Custom Shell - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

Windows allows you to selectively specify the system shell based on the logged-in user. For example, this allows one user to use the standard Explorer interface, and another to use the legacy “progman” shell.

Navigate to:
HCU\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\ System

And to:
HLM\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\ System

The second value is the system-wide setting, and the first value is for the currently logged-in user.

Create or modify the String Value called Shell and set it to the filename of the replacement shell.

Enable UDMA66 Or UDMA100 Mode - Hardware Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

DMA stands for Direct Memory Access, and refers to the capability to transfer data directly between, say, two hard disks, without the need for the CPU to interfere (hence “direct”). Now, as hard disks became faster, and as the need to increase transfer speeds came up, it was found that increasing the speed of the interface itself caused problems. The efficiency of the interface itself had to be improved in addition, and what resulted was the creation of new types of DMA transfer modes called Ultra DMA modes. UDMA66 is also called Ultra DMA Mode 4, and also Ultra ATA/66. If you have an Intel chipset that supports UDMA66 or UDMA100 (you can find this out from the manual), you might find that that mode is disabled by default—and you might certainly want to enable it! You could use the Device Manager to do this, but
in some cases, that doesn’t work—in which case you’ll need to modify the Registry. Make sure your Intel chipset supports one of the two modes mentioned above, otherwise bad things might happen. Naturally, since this is a low-level hardware hack, you’ll need to restart after making the change.
Navigate to:

HLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\
{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0000

Create a new DWORD value called EnableUDMA66 (or EnableUDMA100, as the case may be). Set its value to 1 to enable the ultra DMA mode, or to 0 to disable it.

Reclaim Your Optical Drive - Hardware Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

This hack might help if your optical drive isn’t being detected. This hack is applicable if your drives disappear after you uninstall Adaptec Easy CD Creator versions 5.01 and earlier, or DirectCD version 3.01 or 3.01c. It should also work if your drives have disappeared for no apparent reason, or after various program installations and/or upgrades. In any case, it doesn’t hurt to try it. You’ll need to restart to see our drive again—if the hack works, that is. Navigate to:

HLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-
E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

Delete the values inside the keys UpperFilters and LowerFilters. If that doesn’t seem to work, go ahead and delete the keys themselves. You’ll need to reboot to see if you’ve had any luck after that.

Get Rid Of The Hand - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

When you share a local resource on the network, a “hand” icon is placed under the item to show that it’s shared. You can remove the icon if you want to.

Navigate to:

HCR\Network\SharingHandler

Find the SharingHandler key. To remove the “hand,” clear the current data from the “(Default)” value, which is a String Value. To restore the icon to the default, enter “ntshrui.dll” there. Restart Windows for the change to take effect.

No More DVDs! - Hardware Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

You can make your computer pretend not to have a DVD drive. The following tweak is useful if, say, you have kids at home and you don’t want them to play DVDs on the computer. Or, you have a large CD/DVD collection, you’re away from home, and you don’t want your friends messing with your collection. Navigate to:

HCU\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Player\Settings

The value name of interest here is EnableDVDUI. It should be a String Value (REG_SZ). Create it if it’s not there, or modify it according to what you want. “No” will disable the drive, and “Yes” will enable it. A reboot is required for the changes to take effect. This hack has been found not to work on some systems, so you’ll just have to take pot luck. If it doesn’t work, just delete the value (EnableDVDUI) you created!

Hide Control Panel Applets - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

There are so many applets in the Control Panel that you never use! This hack will let you hide any of the applets in the Control Panel.

Navigate to:

HCU\Control Panel\don’t load

(Yes, surprisingly, that key has an apostrophe!)

To hide the applets, you need to create a String Value for the filename of the applet in question, and set the value of the setting to No—or delete the key entirely to display the applet. The filenames of most of the common applets are as below, for quick reference. You might or might not find all the following on your system, and conversely, there could be applets on your system not mentioned here.

access.cpl - Accessibility Applet

appwiz.cpl - Add/Remove Programs Applet

console.cpl - Console Applet

timedate.cpl - Date and Time Applet

desk.cpl - Display Properties Applet

fax.cpl - Fax Applet

hdwwiz.cpl - Hardware Wizard Applet

irprops.cpl - Infrared Port Applet

intl.cpl - International and Regional Settings Applet

inetcpl.cpl - Internet Settings Applet

joy.cpl - Joystick Applet

liccpa.cpl - Licensing Applet

main.cpl - Mouse and Keyboard Applet

mlcfg32.cpl - Mail Applet

mmsys.cpl - Sound and Multimedia Applet

modem.cpl - Modem and Phone Applet

ncpa.cpl - Network and Connectivity Applet

netcpl.cpl - Network and Dial-up Connectivity Applet

nwc.cpl - Netware Client Applet

odbccp32.cpl - ODBC Applet

devapps.cpl - PC Card Applet

ports.cpl - Ports Applet

powercfg.cpl - Power Management Applet

sticpl.cpl - Scanner and Camera Applet

srvmgr.cpl - Server Manager Applet

sapi.cpl - Speech Properties Applet

sysdm.cpl - System Applet

telephon.cpl - Telephony Applet

tweakui.cpl - TweakUI Applet (if you have TweakUI installed)

nusrmgr.cpl - User Manager Applet

wspcpl32.cpl - WSP Client Applet

quicktime.cpl - QuickTime Applet

S32LUCP1.cpl - Norton Live Update Applet

Disable The Passport Balloon Reminder - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

A balloon reminder will annoyingly keep popping up asking you to enter your MSN Messenger username and password. Once you enter it, it will be stored—forever! If you don’t want to be nagged by the balloon, use this hack to disable the reminder forever.

Navigate to:

HCU\ Software\ Microsoft\ MessengerService

Change the Binary Value PassportBalloon to “0a 00 00 00” to permanently disable the reminder.

Restore Folders Upon Startup - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

Another very useful hack! You can specify whether the folders that were open at the point of the last shutdown should re-open when the system starts up next. You can now reboot in the middle of exploring your computer, safe in the knowledge that all the windows will come back up when you restart.

Navigate to:

HCU\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer\ Advanced

Change the DWORD value PersistBrowsers to 0 to not re-open the folders when the system restarts. A value of 1 should be specified if the folders are to be re-opened.

A Command Line Command Completion Hotkey - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

This is a hack of the UNIX shell command completion feature. You can type in the first few characters of a file name and then press a key to have the system complete it.

Navigate to:

HCU\ Software\ Microsoft\ Command Processor

And to:

HLM\ Software\ Microsoft\ Command Processor

Set the DWORD Value CompletionChar to equal the hexadecimal value of the control character for the required keyboard stroke. The hex values for the key combinations are as in “A Hotkey For Command Line Directory Completion.”

Use any hex values corresponding to the desired control character. The complete list of possible control characters can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASCII. The representation is in the form ^letter, where ^ represents the [Ctrl] key. Thus ^Z = [Ctrl] + [Z], and has a hex value of 26.

Type in the first few characters of the filename and press the key to complete it. If you have multiple files that begin with the same character string, press the [Ctrl] key multiple times to cycle through the available list of files.

Use this in conjunction with “A Hotkey For Command Line Directory Completion.”

Change The Program Files And Common Files Directory - Performance Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

Change the default location where software will be installed and where the “common files” will be stored. These are normally found in C:\Program Files and C:\Program Files\Common Files\. Both can be on independent volumes. This can be useful if, say, you’re running out of space on the C: drive, and want to instruct Windows to forever look elsewhere while installing programs. Removes the burden of pressing “browse” and browsing to the desired location.

Navigate to:

HLM\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion

Specify the String Value of the path of the new directories. For Common Files the setting is CommonFilesDir, and for Program Files the setting is ProgramFilesDir. All new software that is installed will refer to this key to identify where the common files and program files should be stored by default.

A Hotkey For Command Line Directory Completion - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

If you work at the command line for a considerable length of time, you will want this hack. Specify a key, which when pressed, will complete the directory name.

Navigate to:

HCU\ Software\ Microsoft\ Command Processor

And to:

HLM\ Software\ Microsoft\ Command Processor

The first key above is user-specific, the second is system-wide. Change the setting of PathCompletionChar to the DWORD hexadecimal value of the control character. For example, the value for the [Tab] key is 9, [Ctrl] + [D] is 4, and so on… each key or key combination has a value associated.

The complete list of possible control characters can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASCII. The representation is in the form ^letter, where the caret character represents the [Ctrl] key. Thus ^Z = [Ctrl] + [Z], and has a hexadecimal value of 26.

At the command prompt, when you type in the first letter or letters of a directory and press the completion key, it will display the first directory path matching your entry. Press the key multiple times to scroll through the choices.

Use this in conjunction with “A Command Line Command Completion Hotkey.”

The “New” Right-Click Command Goes Missing - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

After a Windows update, the much-used “New” option in the rightclick could go missing. This hack will fix it.

Navigate to:

HCR\ Directory\ Background\ shellex\ ContextMenuHandlers\ New

Add the following String Value:

{D969A300-E7FF-11d0-A93B-00A0C90F2719} to the “(Default)” setting under that key. If the “New” key is not present, create it and add the value.

Control The Behaviour Of The Logon Screensaver - Visual Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

At the logon screen, Windows launches the specified (or default) screen saver after a specified timeout. Use this hack to disable, change or adjust the timeout of the screensaver.

Navigate to:

HKEY_USERS\ .DEFAULT\ Control Panel\ Desktop

Modify the value of ScreenSaveActive to 1 or 0 to enable or disable the screensaver. Under “SCRNSAVE.EXE”, change the path to the .scr screensaver file you want. Adjust the value of the screensaver timeout in ScreenSaveTimeOut to your desired number (in seconds).

Control CPU Task Priorities - Performance Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

It is not possible to explain this tweak without getting into many technical details. But what it does is, it forces short processor timeslices to be allocated to foreground processes three times more often than the time-slices given to background processes.

Navigate to:

HLM\ SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\ Control\ PriorityControl

Set the DWORD Win32PrioritySeparation to, well, any of a number of values.

3 (the default): Foreground and background tasks have equal priority.

2: Foreground tasks have higher priority than background Tasks

1: Foreground tasks have maximum priority

0 (not recommended): Foreground tasks run in real-time. This will most likely make your system hang, and is primarily to be used in mission-critical environments with supporting hardware.

This particular tweak should not be applied to a system running either SQL Server or IIS unless you’re certain that you want to slow down those background processes.

Make DLLs Display Their Icons - Miscellaneous Windows XP Registry Hack

By default, Windows Explorer displays a generic icon for all DLL files. Some poor DLLs actually offer their own icons. So if you'd like to know at a glance which ones have icons, you'll need to go through the following procedure. Remember that this tweak will cause the first icon contained in a DLL to be displayed in Windows Explorer.

Navigate to:
HCR\dllfile\DefaultIcon

Back up the key you are about to modify: highlight "(Default)" in the right frame and select Export Registry File... . Save the file to the location of your choice, so if you don't like the results of this tweak, double-click the exported file to undo the changes you are about to make.

Then, right click "(Default)" and choose Modify. Replace all the information contained in the Value data: field with %1. Now reboot and launch Windows Explorer. Look at the file called Shell.dll in C:\Windows\System and note that it - and many other DLLs - now display an icon of their own!

Increase Balloon Tip Notify Time - Miscellaneous Windows XP Registry Hack

Frankly, a silly hack - just for fun! This one will, of course, increase the time for which balloon tips will be displayed.

Navigate to:
HCR\Software\Microsoft\Windows
\CurrentVersion\Explorer\TrayNotify

Create or modify the DWORD called BalloonTip to reflect a value of 0000000a. You might need to restart for the change to take effect.

Add Copy to / Move to To The Right-Click - Miscellaneous Windows XP Registry Hack

An extremely useful hack, which adds "Copy to folder" and "Move to folder" to the right-click menu of every file and folder. When you select, say, "Copy to folder," you'll get an Explorer-style menu where you can navigate and choose the destination folder.

Navigate to:

HCR\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\

ContextMenuHandlers

Create a new key here called "Copy To". Change the "(default)" value to

{C2FBB630-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}

Then, in the same key (HCR \AllFilesystemObjects \shellex \ContextMenuHandlers), create a new key called "Move To". Change its "(default)" value to

{C2FBB630-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}

The change will be effective immediately.

Remove Items From The System Tray - Miscellaneous Windows XP Registry Hack

We can't think of a really good use for this one, and it's just for fun that we're including it here. We all use the System Tray in the Taskbar, but you can get prevent any items from appearing there - except the time, if you've set the clock to appear in the System Tray! So once you apply this hack, the System Tray will be blank except for the time.

Navigate to:
HCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

And to:
HLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows
\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

Create a DWORD Value in both locations called NoTrayItemsDisplay. Set it to 1 to make items in the System Tray vanish. Come to think of it, this is a cool prank hack! Just log out and back on for the change to take effect.

Remove "File" From Explorer - Miscellaneous Windows XP Registry Hack

Ever used the File menu in a Windows Explorer window? We're guessing not. In fact, did you even know it was there? It's useless. But equally useless is this hack, which removes the menu.

Navigate to:

HCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows

\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

And to:

HLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows

\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

Create a DWORD Value in both locations called NoFileMenu. Set it to 1, or back to 0 if you want the File menu to reappear.

Create Your Own Tips - Miscellaneous Windows XP Registry Hack

If you are getting bored of the Windows tutorial tips that appear when you log in to windows, use this hack to change and add your own tips.

Navigate to:
HLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer\Tips

The tips are listed in alphabetical or numerical sequence. You can either replace the string values in the existing tips, or create your own tips, or increment the existing letters or numbers and enter a string value with your own tip. For example, if the last tip is designated “Y”, the next tip could be “Z” with your String Value text.

You can use any message in the String Value; it needn’t be a tip! For example, try “Don’t forget to call home!” as a tip and see how it appears when you next log in.

Modify The Default Search Options - Performance Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

An incredibly useful hack! You’ve probably gone through the drill more than once—search, then specify that it’s case-sensitive, then specify that you want to search subfolders, and so on and so forth. Use this hack to specify the search parameters that makes it most omfortable for you to search your system.

Navigate to:

HCU\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer

Set any of the following DWORD Values to 1 or to 0. What to set them to is obvious.

CaseSensitive: Do a case-sensitive search

IncludeSubFolders: Search subfolders

SearchHidden: Search hidden files and folders

SearchSlowFiles: Search tape backup

SearchSystemDirs: Search system folders

The next time you conduct a search, you won’t need to enter a single parameter!

Disable The Search Assistant - Performance Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

The new search assistant is an annoyance to many people. Not only does it have a weird number of counter-intuitive search options, it also connects to the Microsoft site without the user’s permission, opening a potential door for compromise of privacy. Use this hack to disable the new search assistant and use the classic search interface.

Navigate to:

HCU\ Software\ Microsoft\ Internet Explorer\ Main

Set the String value for Use Search Asst to “no”. The default is “yes”.

Change Certain Folder Locations - Performance Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

Special folders such as My Documents, Desktop, and so on can be changed to any other location from that set by the default instalHACKS lation. There’s a way to do this without a registry hack, but using the following hack is simpler. First, just move the required folders to the new locations. Then…

Navigate to:

HCU\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer\ User Shell Folders

Open this Registry key and edit the full path for each special folder with the corresponding new path. For example, the default location of the My Documents folder is “C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents. Move the folder to, say, “F:\Documents”, and update the value for the “Personal” setting with the new path, that is, “F:\My Documents”, without the quotes.

The change should take effect immediately.

Control Auto-Reboot After A Crash - Performance Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

When Windows crashes due to application, hardware or any other system fault, it is by default set to automatically reboot. In some cases, if the crashing is persistent and you want to troubleshoot your PC, you might not want the system to go into autoreboot mode.

Navigate to:

HLM\ SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\ Control\ CrashControl

Change the value of AutoReboot to 0 to prevent an automatic reboot after a crash.

Die A Faster Death - Performance Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

If an application does not respond during shutdown, XP will normally wait for a while to see if open applications shut down safely.

Use this hack to shut down straightaway and not wait for any response from the application.

Navigate to:

HCU\ Control Panel\ Desktop

And to:

HKEY_USERS\ .DEFAULT\ Control Panel\ Desktop

The first key is user-specific, and the second is system-wide. In both these locations, change the String value called AutoEndTasks to 1 to kill the application immediately, or 0 to prompt for user action. WaitToKillAppTimeout controls the default time, in milliseconds, before killing the application. Reduce this time to further speed up the process.

Automatic Window Refresh - Performance Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

Normally, there is a small delay after some information changes before it reflects in the GUI. If you need to see the information right away, you would need to press [F5]. The following will enable the system to do faster updates.

Navigate to:
HLM\ SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\ Control\ Update

For faster updates, change the DWORD value called UpdateMode to 0. The default is 1.

A reboot will be required for the changes to take effect. Note that there is a likelihood of conflict if this setting is applied with system policies running: the UpdateMode value is used by system policies to Disable, Automatically or Manually check for a connection to the NETLOGON share of a domain controller. Change it back to the default if you are running system policies or are connected to a domain controller.

Control Master File Table Zone Reservation - Performance Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

On NTFS-enabled XP systems, you can control the amount of space allocated to the MFT. The MFT contains reference entries to all the files on the system. This can get fragmented over time and affect system performance. Use this hack to allocate sufficient space for the MFT.

Navigate to:

HLM\ System\ CurrentControlSet\ Control\ FileSystem

Modify NtfsMftZoneReservation to a value between 1 and 4. For most users, a value of 2 is good enough. However, in this day of humongous hard disks, a better bet would be to set it at 4.

To be completely effective, this setting should be specified at the time the volume is formatted.

Disable The Desktop Cleanup Wizard - Performance Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

By default the Desktop Cleanup Wizard runs every 60 days to clean up unused shortcuts and other desktop items. Do you need this over-friendly tool? At any rate, you don’t want it to run automatically— use this hack.

Navigate to:

HCU\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer\ Desktop\ CleanupWiz

Modify the DWORD Value called NoRun to 0, or to 1 to bring back the poor Wizard if you begin to pity it.

Turn Off Windows Animation - Performance Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

Windows animations—like those that happen when you minimize or maximise windows—look good, but only if you have the processing power and/or RAM. To get the most performance out of your system turn off this setting. You could do it via a host of settings in the GUI, but this Registry |-hack does it all in one fell swoop.

Navigate to:

HCU\ Control Panel\ Desktop\ WindowMetrics

Change the value called MinAnimate to 0 to disable Windows Animation. A restart is required.

Optimise The System Cache - Performance Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

Desktop systems are normally optimised for applications, and servers for file caching. Depending on how you use your system, you may want to optimise your system for either.

Navigate to:

HLM\ SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\ Control\ Session

Manager\ Memory Management

Find the setting LargeSystemCache. Set this DWORD value to 1 for server behaviour or to 0 for desktop behaviour.

Some programs such as SQL Server and Exchange Server set this value during installation and override the change.

Edit The Startup Programs List - Performance Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

Many of the programs that start up at boot time do not figure in the Startup folder. If you want to stop more than one application from loading at bootup, you will normally need to go and turn off the preference in each application one by one. Tedious and time consuming. This hack can help you do this in one go.

Navigate to:

HLM\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Run

And to:

HCU\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Run

All the programs that load at boot time will be specified under these two keys. Review the applications listed in this list and delete all the entries you don’t want started up at boot time. Next bootup, they’ll be gone.

Be careful not to delete needed programs such as anti-virus and antispyware programs. You should be able to identify them by their path if not by the file name.

Load Kernel Into RAM - Performance Enhancement Windows XP Registry Hack

In Windows 98, programs could be loaded and kept in RAM for as long as you wanted. You could even load a video clip into RAM directly and have it play from there! XP is much more restrictive, mostly due to security reasons. But when it comes to the Windows XP kernel, there’s something you can do. By default, XP only loads the required parts of the kernel into RAM at boot time, and calls the other parts as and when needed. Having the entire kernel available in memory speeds up processing.

Navigate to:

HLM\ System\ CurrentControlSet\ Control\ Session

Manager\ Memory Management

Set the value of the DisablePagingExecutive key to 1. This will make the entire kernel be loaded in memory. A reboot is required for the changes to take effect.

Only use this hack if you have sufficient memory. Recommended: 512 MB or more. Also, this |-hack may affect some programs that use the Windows swap file directly, such as Adobe Photoshop.